Dodger bullpen holds off Padres despite loss of Wilson to DL

SAN DIEGO – The Dodgers were justifiably proud of the pitching depth they assembled on their 2014 roster.

They’re going to need it.

The news Tuesday that $215 million ace Clayton Kershaw will likely miss a month or more because of inflammation in the back of his shoulder was followed by an announcement that $10 million setup man Brian Wilson will go on the DL with nerve irritation in his twice-repaired pitching elbow.

Wilson was noticeably absent from the bullpen as the Dodgers’ protected a one-run lead for the final four innings of a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres.

“It’s tough. You don’t want that to happen,” said Tuesday’s starter, Zack Greinke – whose injury absence was one of last year’s biggest early-season challenges. “If either of those guys are out a long time, it’s going to be tough. Our team is good enough to handle it. But those are two guys we want to have on our team and be part of this.”

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said Wilson had been “feeling some things in his elbow” and spoke up after his blown save in Sunday’s game. Wilson didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced, though two reached on fielding errors.

“I think he felt something in the ’pen and kind of still went out there,” Mattingly said of Sunday’s game. “As soon as he came out, he said something to (head trainer) Stan (Conte).”

Wilson has twice had Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow, the most recent coming in April 2012. He met with Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday and underwent an MRI.

“Just in my layman’s terms, it sounds like it’s more about nerve irritation. The ligament is good,” Mattingly said. “We feel like it’s something that just needs to calm down and get it going in the other direction. The MRI was not good news but it was better than it could have been.”

A two-run home run by Yasiel Puig staked the Dodgers to an early lead Tuesday, but Greinke gave up a home run to Seth Smith and another run in the fifth inning, handing over a 3-2 lead to the bullpen. A relay team of Chris Withrow, J.P. Howell and Kenley Jansen protected it – but not without their moments.

Withrow and Howell each got double-play grounders to clean up trouble in their innings. The Padres got the tying run to third with one out and loaded the bases with two outs against Jansen before he struck out Nick Hundley to close it out.

“Not the smoothest,” Jansen said of his second save this season. “I wasn’t sharp at all.”

KEMP RETURN

Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp seems all but certain to make his season debut in Friday’s home opener.

Mattingly said he met with Kemp before Tuesday’s game to discuss Kemp’s imminent return to the active roster. After undergoing shoulder and ankle surgeries last October, the Dodgers have been cautious with Kemp this spring. But the outfielder said Friday he feels ready to play when he is eligible to come off the DL this week.

Mattingly indicated that he agrees.

“I just want to make sure that he feels he can go play,” Mattingly said. “That’s what we’ve always talked about. I want him to be able to feel like he can go steal a bag or stop on a dime after a hard turn coming around third or coming around first – that he’s ready to play baseball. He seems to think he is.

“I think Matt’s been pretty honest that he doesn’t want to go out there until he’s ready to play. I don’t think Matt wants to get embarrassed. I think he wants to do well. I think he’s ready to do well.”

Mattingly also said he doesn’t think a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment would be necessary.

“I don’t know what that does for him at this point,” Mattingly said. “He’s been rehabbing all spring. He’s had all kinds of at-bats. He’s probably had as many at-bats as any of our guys. At some point, you just have to start. You can’t wait until he’s hot in the minor leagues and say, ‘OK, he’s ready.’ Even that might not matter. He’s physically ready. He’s had all the at-bats. At some point, we gotta go. It’s time.”

“Matt’s ready. In his mind, he’s ready.”

NO HOSTILITIES

Tuesday’s pitching matchup of Greinke and Ian Kennedy was the same one that led to a benches-clearing brawl at Dodger Stadium last June. Pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks then, Kennedy hit Puig in the nose with a pitch and Greinke in the back after Greinke retaliated by hitting Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero.

There was no resumption of hostilities Tuesday in San Diego – just a 392-foot home run off Kennedy by Puig in the first inning.

Greinke said his only thought about the matchup was “just the fact that you all (the media) might care about it.”

“I don’t think we were too worried about it what happened,” he said. “It was a long time ago now.”